» Shea Moisture . : La Coco Bella : .

The past few weeks I’ve been deep conditioning with the Shea Moisture Organic African Black Soap Purification Hair Masque. I bought this because a) I love Shea Moisture products and b) it’s for dry, itchy scalps. I had already been using the Black Soap shampoo and conditioner by SM since this winter had been SOOOO dry. I have no idea what the heck was going on my scalp had never been that itchy in my entire life. Ugh, I just hope it is over now…

So naturally I tried the Purification Masque in the SM Dry, Itchy scalp line. I had heard pretty good things about it around the web so I wanted to see if it lived up to the hype. I do really like it but it wasn’t like amazing.

It has a ton of slip, it smells good (to me at least), it applies easily and spreads through my hair well so I don’t have to use too too much at one time. My jar is about a third of the way gone and I’ve used it about 3 times (the tub has 12 oz. of product). The consistency reminds me a bit like the SM Coconut Curl Smoothie, maybe a little more liquidy.

It says it’s supposed to detoxify, condition and soothe the scalp and hair since it has Kaolin clay and salicylic acid. I guess you could say it does that but I can’t really say I can tell. I mean my hair definitely feels clean, soft and moisturized after each use but I wouldn’t say I use it for that particular reason, I just get good results from whatever the heck it is doin’ to my hair lol. I’ll admit that I hadn’t been applying this directly to my scalp (like it says your supposed to, go figure) but I did do it the last time it used it and it did a pretty good job at cleansing! I may start co-washing with this more. I have been using actual shampoo but I may go back to co-washing more to help retain moisture.

Definitely keeping this “in stock”, again, it’s cheap and easy to find around town. This will be a good “lazy day” deep conditioning treatment (when I don’t feel like whipping something up from the kitchen!). When I use this as a DC, I leave it on for at least 30 mins under a shower cap.

Oh, one thing, I have tried the other Shea Moisture deep conditioner (the Organic Raw Shea Butter Deep Treatment Hair Masque, the one with the yellow label) but I like the Purification Masque much better for the purpose of deep conditioning. I ended up using the Shea butter Deep Treatment Masque as a moisturizer for twists. That worked out pretty well.

Ingredients

Deionized Water , Cocos Nucifera Oil (Coconut) , Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) , Mangfera Indica Seed Butter (Mango) , Persea Gratissima Oil (Avocado) , African Black Soap Extract , Sea Salt , Cetyl Esters , Kaolin Clay , Grapeseed Oil , Simmondsia Chinensis Seed Oil (Jojoba) , Behentrimonium Chloride (Conditioner) , Salicylic Acid , Salix Alba Bark Extract (Willow) , Melia Azadirachta Seed Oil (Neem) , Melaleuca Alternifolia Leaf Oil (Tea Tree) , Sorbitol Esters , Aloe Vera Leaf Juice , Tocopherol (Vitamin E) , Rosemary Extract , Salvia Officinalis Extract (Sage) , Plantain Extract , Lonicera Caprifolium Flower and Lonicera Japonica Flower Extract (Honeysuckle and Japanese Honeysuckle)

Here’s what the product looks like applied to my hair!

Them edges lol

— Have you tried this? What do you like to use for DC’s?

Hey ladies! Here’s my first product overview— the Shea Moisture Organic Curl Enhancing Smoothie. I’ve been using this for a couple years now and I always get really consistent results, the price is great and it is easy to find. Oh and it smells soooo yummy!! I absolutely LOVE anything that has coconut in it (for obvious reasons) or smells like it :0) I tend to have luck with most of Shea Moisture’s products and I haven’t really come across any that I absolutely do not like (kudos to them!).

So the Curl Smoothie is a water based hair dressing and I use it for twist-outs and when I dry detangle on wash days. It’s moisturizing (shea butter and coconut oil) which my hair loves and doesn’t feel greasy or heavy on my hair. My hair tends to react well with products that contain vegetable glycerin (a humectant that attracts moisture to your hair) .The consistency reminds me of a thick yogurt/pudding that rubs in well. When I apply, I saturate the entire section so it’s completely wet (and it doesn’t take much to do this!), twist it up and seal my ends with a sealant (check out my regimen page for some options). ***Remember to make sure your hair is completely dry before untwisting or you will get frizz!

I use this product mostly on first day twist-outs (on wash days) because I noticed that the closer I get to the next wash day (7 days or so) and products have built-up on my hair over the course of the week, the Curl Smoothie feels a bit cakey. It may have reacted with something else I had on my hair (or maybe I just used too much lol) either way… when used correctly and on cleaner hair, I almost always get great results!

Where to find it – bought mine at Target and you can get it at Walgreens or online. It’s usually around $8-$10 which is great deal and you get 12 oz of product!

Ingredients

Deionized Water , Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter) , Cocos Nucifera Oil (Coconut) , Macadamia Ternifolia Seed Oil , Persea Gratissima Oil (Avocado) , Vegetable Glycerin , Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract , Silk Protein , Ammonium Salt , Melia Azadirachta Seed Oil (Neem) , Daucus Carota Sativa Seed Oil (Carrot) , Sorbitol Esters , Panthenol (Pro-Vitamin B-5) , Caprylyl Glycol , Essential Oil Blend , Lonicera Caprifolium Flower and Lonicera Japonica Flower Extract (Honeysuckle and Japanese Honeysuckle) , Tocopherol (Vitamin E)

This was done on 3rd day hair. I spritzed a little bit of my water/aloe vera juice mixture to soften my hair, applied the Curl Smoothie and twisted about 12-14 twists. This is pretty much my nightly routine when I wear a twist-out (the products may vary though). The whole process takes me about 30 mins.

The Results

After untwisting and before separating and fluffing the sections.

Streeeeetched!

After separating the twists and fluffing up for more volume! **sidebar** I can NOT wait to grow these annoying layers out! My hair doesn’t look as full as it did before I cut them :0(

—-Do you like to use this product? How do you use it in your hair?